Carnival is coming to Canberra. A two-day Canberra Carnival headlines an overhaul of racing in the ACT to increase fields, provide a boost to local trainers and help bolster tourism to the capital.
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Black Opal Stakes Day, Canberra's premier race day, will be split in two to form a carnival similar to Wagga Wagga and Albury's annual events.
The group 3 Black Opal will continue to headline the Sunday meet, while the listed Canberra Cup will be the shining light on the Canberra Day public holiday.
The announcement comes ahead of their meet at Thoroughbred Park on Friday.
"We're trying to grow our feature races here in the Territory and to grow tourism, and also have a carnival that the Territory can be proud of," Canberra Racing boss Andrew Clark told The Canberra Times.
"[The ACT government] have Enlighten over the time so there's many events in Canberra and we want to do what we can with Visit Canberra to really grow Canberra as a tourism destination over that Canberra Day long weekend.
"We see this as an opportunity for us to show what racing can do."
Canberra Racing have also adjusted the prize money for their feature races as they look to tackle small fields by differentiating themselves from Sydney's races.
The Opal will drop to $250,000 total prize money, with the $50,000 decrease redirected to bring the Cup up to the same amount.
There were only seven runners in this year's Black Opal and only eight last year, with Canberra's feature race competing with Sydney's Todman and Reisling stakes - also two-year-old races - for numbers.
The similarity between them has meant the same horses nominating for both and then picking between Sydney and Canberra.
It's hoped creating a difference in prize money and class will mean less dual nominations, opening the door for other horses to put their saddle in the ring and more Canberra runners to make the field.
The Canberra Cup has also competed with the Randwick City Stakes for runners and it's hoped the increased money would make the Cup the more attractive option.
Clark said they hoped to keep similar crowds for Opal Day - about 10,000 - and build the crowds on the Monday, which will have more of a family feel.
He's committed to the carnival for at least three years to do that.
"We're trying to differentiate our races from the feature races in Sydney on the days prior," Clark said.
"No matter what time of year the races are scheduled over that period there will be a clash so this is our way to differentiate it to attract the right class of horse for the right race and really grow the races from what they are to what they can be."
The $150,000 National Sprint and the Riharna Thomson Memorial Bracelet will remain on Black Opal Day, while the $150,000 Canberra Guineas will follow the Cup to the Monday.
They'll also introduce the Lickety Split Maiden Handicap to attract the region's best maidens to Cup day.
Preview day, run two weeks before the carnival and containing lead-up races for the Opal, Cup, Guineas and Sprint, has also had an overhaul.
This year the winner of the four previews automatically qualified for the respective feature race, but in 2020 that will extend to the first two runners.
The Cup preview will become the $150,000 Canberra Mile.
There'll also be a series of Friday twilight meets, starting late November and culminating on preview day.
They're also introducing two-year-old races on every program from mid-November to help get more Canberra runners in the Opal.
"We're doing a number of twilight meetings over the summer this year, which are designed to have local food vans, local entertainment, children's entertainment to get people to the track over that time," Clark said.
"We're really trying to grow the whole series of races over that summer period, culminating in the Canberra Carnival."